The need to turn from side-to-side and secure a person confined to a bed with temporary or permanent loss of mobility is well known. Patient rotation from side-to-side is necessary for maintaining patient comfort, facilitating examination, and preventing bed sores from forming. Manual lifting and turning of a bed ridden patient is physically demanding for nurses, aides and others responsible for the care of the bed ridden patient. Such labor may result in injury to the back and other body parts of the person doing the lifting and/or turning of the patient. These injuries to nurses, aides and others result in time lost from the job and increased health care costs. Most medical personnel who are trained to care for bed ridden patients use a small draw sheet or plastic backed absorbent upon which a patient is rolled or rests to assist in turning the patient. By pulling on one side of the small draw sheet or plastic backed absorbent, the nurse or aide (typically two persons) can facilitate positioning the bed ridden patient in the correct position on the bed. Next, to turn the bed ridden patient on their other side two nurses or aides will roll the patient in the opposite direction and utilize a draw sheet to reposition the bed ridden patient in the center of the bed on the patient's other side. The act of pulling on the patient with a draw sheet is strenuous on the fingers, hands, and wrists of the care giver, especially when the patient is heavy.
Various sheets and slings are known in the prior art, for example, there are flat and fitted sheets for beds, reusable grocery bags having two looped support straps, and slings for special purposes, such as to transport a sick or injured person having handles or loop straps. Slings for special purposes and reusable grocery bags are constructed of fabric such as canvas, woven synthetic fibers, or a thick plastic and have handles or loop straps to assist with lifting and transporting.
Moreover, a variety of bed ridden patient apparatus or systems exist for lifting, transporting, and turning a bed ridden patient. Most such bed ridden patient apparatus or systems include a flat rectangular sheet, which extends beyond the length and width of the patient, having long straps attached to the sheet that feed into mechanical means for lifting and turning, such as mechanical rollers supported by a stationary or moveable support structure positioned above a hospital bed. Alternatively lift platforms integrated into the bed have been utilized to raise, reposition, and turn bed ridden patients.
Typically, space is limited in hospital and assisted care rooms. Therefore, devices to assist with patient rollovers must occupy a minimum amount of space (if kept in the room). Moreover, the elimination of the capital expenditures for large structured mechanical lifting, transporting, and turning systems could help offset the rising cost of healthcare.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a recognized unmet need for a body rotation and securing sling and methods of use, wherein such apparatus is small in size, disposable, and safely enables two directional rotating and the securing of a bed ridden patient in a comfortable angled back leaning side to side position.